Reunion
by Sony Kidna
Summary: An alternate-ending to Other-M, can Sonic manage to handle the changes back in his original world during his "coma?" PG-13. My first fanfic, R&R and feel free to read. ^^
1. UPDATE! Not a chapter but look here 1st

This isn't a chapter, but if you've never read an issue of Other-M or no longer have the link, go here:

www.sonicverseteam.com/~bkp/

Click on the little link called Other-M and start out at Issue #1, and you're on your way!

Like any other fanfic, you won't be able to understand it if you don't know the background from where it is based on. But look at it this way—you technically ARE reading a fanfic (or looking, you pick). Go there, read it, and when you've read up to #20, then you'll be able to come back and understand my side of the story. Kay, that's it! Simple as pie. 

**_OR_**! If you're just too lazy (like me) and don't want to go through the hassle of reading an entire comic just to read this (shame on you! This is a really good comic, and I command you to read it !!), then I'll just give a "little" preface.

_A rountine solo-mission into Robotropolis goes awry, and Sonic finds himself in a strange variation of the world he knew. Friend has become foe, and familiar faces mask new minds. Sonic must find the answers to who he is, where he is, and what world he knows is true._

Basically, after a face-off with Eggman, Sonic was hit with a laser from an inter-dimensional portal machine that can transport him to any given Zone. Here, however, he was transported to the weakest, most unstable of them all. Everyone and every thing have really changed. For example, in this zone, he was a coward; a nuisance to almost everybody around him and in the verge of being kicked out of the Rebellion, which was like a guerilla group to overthrowing The Dark Legion (leader being Knuckles and somebody else we all know and love…). Knuckles is what you would call the "Adolf Hitler" of this Zone, as he believes that only Echidnas are worthy to walk on ground and everybody else is inferior and the reason to why there's much turmoil. He's the leader of the military forces too, having the Chaotix as his henchmen to "deal" with any betrayers or violaters of his pointless laws. Many wars are fought between the two groups, as well as some really deep tragedies.

But when Sonic arrives and literally being treated like dirt by everyone (Antoine and Rotor mainly), he finally proves to everyone that he'll never refuse a challenge and actually aid the Rebellion when he volunteers for missions without being forced to. Here you also meet Fiona, who had always had secret feelings for Sonic, although he costed her her own two hands (which were roboticized in order for her to keep them, and also to serve as an upgrade). It is here where Sonic actually begins to fall for her although he's still in love with Sally, but she is nowhere to be found…another person being completely different is Amy. Amy, sadly, was a "specimen" of the Dark Legion, due to her highly concentrated psychic abilities. She was kept in a pod being closely monitored until they managed to rescue her. Ever since, she has provided Sonic with some crucial information, but none of them seem to ever have a happy ending…

In the end, unfortunately, many lives are lost. Who's exactly? Well that's for you to read and find out, as I'm not going to ruin the entire comic. Although what I have provided so far is really enough for you to be able to actually get a good grasp of my story now, I also must add that my story hits off after Sonic "awakes from his coma." Keep in mind that he is still in complete distraught because of how he was completely involved with the new world he was trapped in and witnessed a lot of tragedy, and when he wakes up back in the "world he belonged," he has no idea how to handle that he left the other world when they were in such a crucial moment. I still suggest you read it when you get the chance. So, with all of this said, you can skip to the next chapter!

**BTW**: If you can't stand cursing, LEAVE NOW!  If it really does bug people that much, sorry, but I let my neighbor read it and they commented that the story other than Chapter 1 has no real reason for being an R-rated story. So, I followed their advice. ^_^

I could always go back and edit it, but I think personally that what you write in a story and publish at first shouldn't be edited (I did once just so that way it was on HTML format, but other than that, nada)—you should think about the readers, but you shouldn't go ONLY by what they think or else it wouldn't be YOUR story. Therefore, I'm not—plus, this shows how much people can change in year's time…


	2. The Grand Reunion

Other-M is copyright to Ian the Potto, while Sonic and the gang are copyright to SEGA/Sonic Team, of course!  Great!  Now I can get started.  Hope you like it!  I don't mind reviews, whether good or bad (since this IS my first shot), I just want to know other's opinions.  So, here we go.

Chapter 1 Awakening 

He struggled to open his eyes.  His head was spinning and began to feel a headache rush through.  Mind still dazed, he had no feeling of his entire body.  Almost as if he was levitating, weightless…

(_Ugh…Where am I this time?)_

Slowly regaining consciousness, he saw something that he didn't quite recognize at first.  But as he began to see, Sonic notices that everything is of a shade of green.

(_What…the?!?)_

He finally opens his eyes and began to freak.  Sonic can't help but look frantically through the stained glass.  Everything seems so familiar, and yet so surreal.  He begins to scope the room around with his eyes to see where exactly he is.  There were many different types of tools lying around.  Boxes filled with parts, oil leaks on the pavement.  And in the far end of the room, he saw many different types of mechanisms and computers.  But could it be…

(_Wait a minute…that's the Tornado.  I must be in Tail's Workshop!  Wait…should I be happy or afraid?  Just where am I really?  Which world is this?_)  

But as he tries to walk, he realizes that he can't even move a finger.  Somehow he has been immobilized into whatever he was in, but he wouldn't give up.

Taking what seemed to have been an eternity for the powerless hedgehog, he then was able to gain control of his finger.  His arms.  His legs.  Slowly but steadily he gets into a curled position and begins to spin, as his speed increases by the second.  Everything becomes a blur now as he was spinning rapidly in spot until finally, crackling of glass was heard.  

**_*CRASH*_**

Shattered glass flies everywhere along with the release of the green substance that was sheathed along with the grave.  After freefalling for about 20 ft. from the ground and landing with poise, he slowly regains stability and gasps for air.  Almost unexpectedly remembering how it felt like to breathe once more, he then takes curiosity towards the wall in which he just escaped from.  Sonic then realizes that what he was in was actually a capsule for reasons unknown.  Investigating in his mind, it seemed to have been sustaining him for quite some time now, as it was wired to what could have been dozens of computers hooked up as a network.  But why was he in that thing?  But more important things suddenly popped in to mind.  

"Oh my god, my feet!  They're not roboticized?!?  This is getting weirder and weirder by the minute.  I wonder…if I'm anywhere near the battlefield…or is this another dream?  Am I confusing this with reality again? Am I…am I back home?" he asks himself, but is so bothered by it, that he sits back down again and lays his forehead against his palm.  

"Oh man, my head hurts."

But as soon as he had a reality check, the lights dimmed to a bright red.  An alarm was set off.  "Damn!  I set it off.  Can anything else go bad?" he asks himself.  Then, he heard another voice approaching, growing louder and harsher.

"NO! The chamber!  It's broken!  Shit, how could this have happened?!"  

A voice far away yet so close, it had a sense of panic and nervous tension.  He was able to distinguish that whoever it was, they were still young, maybe around their teens also, but that didn't matter.  Somehow, the voice rang in his head and it somehow began taunting him. 

"That voice.  It sounds so familiar."  

And almost suddenly, the echoing of doors slamming open rushed through the melancholic garage, taking Sonic for surprise and instinctively zips across the room and hides near the Tornado.  Silence fell for about two seconds until it was drowned with screams of terror.

"NOO!  SONIC!  **SONIC!!!**"

The cries have bewildered the teen, as he cries frantically on the floor.  Sonic peeps out a bit and becomes confused.  He can't still make him out due to the dimness of the entire place, but somehow, he felt sorry for that person.  Watching it cry in the shadows was something Sonic couldn't stand.  It suddenly reminded him of all who have lost everything to the Dark Legion.  

The little girl who had lost her mother, crying right beside her bloody corpse to wake up suddenly flashed before his eyes.  The faces of everyone he loved came into sight as well; making him realize that everyone he loved was now dead.  It was he right there who was weeping as well, holding Fiona in his arms while she breathed her last breath and became colder.  How it would be the last time he would ever see her emerald-green eyes.  Mysteries were unsolved, and anything, or anyone, who could tell him the answers to what happened in the end have all disappeared too, just like his sanity.  And Sonic wept along with the shadowy figure but still concealing himself away from him, from everybody, as he still wouldn't let his guard down completely.  But then, the cries became weeps, and everything fell silent.  Then pants were heard.

"Nobody fucks with me and gets away with it!"  

Anger has now built up on his tone. 

"You don't know who you're messing with grave robber…"

("Grave robber?")

"…and you must still be in this room, too.  You think you're so smart, stealing the only memory I have of my past.  My only friend in this godforsaken world."

A whooshing sound can be heard, now a fluttering in the air growing louder by the second.

"Well you know what?  That's not going to happen here, pal!  You can kiss your ass goodbye bitch, because you're not coming out of here alive!"  

Then it hits him.  "WAIT!  I know that voice! It's—"

"—GOTCHA!"  

"ACK!"

Sonic barely dodged a swing of a dagger and then clumsily runs away.  The figure laughs maniacally as the other shadowy figure (Sonic) stumbles and manages to get away.

"Geez, what has gotten into him?  I'm no grave rob *gasp*—"

"Going somewhere?"

He was standing right in front of him, but it was still so dim.  Although it was dark, they each kept eye contact.  And that was all it took for Sonic to recognize once and for all who it was, and was really bothered.

"You know," says the attacker with a smirk, "I could easily kill you right now, you worthless prick.  But I must admit, your speed is quite admirable.  Where did you get such a talent anyways?  Tell me before I slice your throat open."  He says following with a snicker, laughing at his own joke.

"You of all people should know, Tails."

A sudden gasp followed the statement.  He dropped his dagger.

"Tails, it's okay, its—"

But he stops speaking, as now he notices that his hands have clenched his fists.

"How…dare…" He then struggles to hold back his tears and begins to breath heavily.  He shuts his eyes harshly and points his face towards the oil-stained pavement.

"HOW DARE YOU CALL ME BY THAT NAME, STRANGER!!!"

Tails shrieks with agony as he flies his fists madly towards him, zooming in for the punch.

"Tails, please!  Listen to me!  It's me!"

"Never Never Never NEVER!!!  You will NOT take away Sonic! NEVER!"

Sonic was helpless.  There's no way he could possible throw a punch at Tails, because as he hastily dodged his punches, the thoughts of him being the only one he has left was unbearable.  Has everyone gone mad?

"Please Tails!  Open your eyes!"

"Stop…calling…me…TAILS!"

Then suddenly he kicks Sonic right in the head with pure force triggered by his pain and anger.  He helplessly zooms across the air and then crashes right against a wall near the lighted computer monitors.

Pure silence.

Tails hovers towards the figure he had just kicked, the expressions in his face reverting from complete hatred into great shock and denial, as he begins to shake his head harder and harder, whimpering the word "No."  He begins breathing heavily once more and slowly yet meagerly lands on the ground.  Tails hasn't locked the still figure out of his sight.

"What…what have I done?"  He whispers as he raises up both of his hands in front of him, somewhat leaving space in-between them to still have Sonic centered in his view, and clenches them.  So many emotions filled through him that he had become a total wreck.  He then runs towards Sonic so fast, the tears building up slide past his face.  Tails grabs and then hugs Sonic in the ground as he cries harder than ever.  But he is smiling and laughing with joy at the same time.

"Sonic!  You're alive!  I knew you were alive!  After all of these years believing that there was hope, I knew you weren't dead!  I just knew it!  Nobody believed me, they always said that I needed to let go of the past, but I showed them!  So many have died, believing you were lost forever; if only they were here…"

"_…Tails…_"

He opens his eyes and remembers what he has done to his friend.  Tails slowly and gently picks him up and heads out of the dimmed garage.

"Sonic.  I am so very sorry for ever doubting you were alive" *umph* (he begins to fly)  "And I'm even more sorry that I've nearly killed you, again, hah!  But it's been so long since I've heard your voice, saw your eyes once more, please forgive me.  Once I get you to my Hospital Wing, we can talk and laugh once more just like old times.  Life here is so miserable without you…"

"_…I missed you…_"

Tails looks at him.  Sonic's eyes are barely open, injured, and yet has a smile etched on his face.  Tails can't help but feel so happy that a miracle has happened tonight.

"I missed you too, Sonic the Hedgehog."

                                                                                                —End Chapter 1—


	3. Adjusting

Chapter 2

Adjusting

---

With his hands behind his head, Sonic slowly opened his eyes, focusing on the empty ceiling and began to think to himself.  The bed he was lying on was quite comfortable, but while he was resting luxuriously, others have suffered or have died.  How could he possibly just lie here and forget everything that has happened?  That explosion…did it possibly wipe out the entire field?  Did it destroy everything?  

"How did Amy know, and how did she do it to transport me back?  Am I…home?"

The light flickered, almost as if it was trying to answer his question, but went right back to normal.  He began to feel uncomfortable and insecure, unsure about everything.  He hated not knowing what was going on, and even worse hated not being able to help others in need.  But right now, there was nothing he could do about it.  He was here, nowhere near the underground hideout, apparently, and that bothered him tremendously.  But until he has some answers, he was in the Hospital wing, which apparently was just a separate room off of Tails' garage, and just might as well make the best out of it.

"My god.  This place looks so much different than I remembered."

"Finally up?"  Tails walks into the room with a tray of chilidogs.  Sonic cannot help but notice and focuses on them, becoming hungrier by the second.  A grin appears on his face, something Tails just couldn't ignore and feel happy for. 

_(Least that can take my mind off of this, even for a little while…)_

"Yeah.  Been up for a while, just amazed at the quick renovations.  Man, been a long time since I've eaten some of those!  Thanks!"

"Quick?" Tails remarked, as he set the tray down.  "Well, for you, I guess.  Eat up, you need to start eating after today."

Sonic jumps up from the bed almost instantly and begins to literally inhale the numerous hot dogs.  Tails can't help but be stunned by how much he could eat, and after a while, began to laugh.

"Whub? Whuds sub fuh– *gulp* – what's so funny?"  Sonic asked, with dabs of chili left on the sides of his mouth.  
He stopped laughing and halted to a giggle.

"No, it's nothing really.  It's just that I almost forgot how much we use to eat, and you eating like that just reminded me of the past, like how much we use to hang out.  Oh, you have some…"  He made a gesture, wiping the side of his mouth.

"Oh okay…was about to say."  He wiped his mouth with his arm.

Tails then pulled up a chair that was nearby and just watched Sonic contently devour the chilidogs for about a minute.

"PHEW!"  He pats his belly.  "Those were the most delicious chilidogs I have ever tried!  Thank you so much!"

"You're quite welcome.  Help yourself; I have plenty more in the kitchen.  I'll go get some more."

But as he was getting out of the chair, Sonic grabbed and held his arm.  He looked back.

"No, it's fine.  I can wait…"

"Oh.  Well okay."  He sat back down.  A few seconds passed by.

"Tails?  Can I ask you a few questions?"

"Of course!  Ask anything you want.  You need to be updated by this time anyways.  May I presume that was your first question?"

"Actually, second.  My first question is how old are you?  You seem to have matured, and your voice changed dramatically."

He gives a soft giggle.  "Sure, that's what I've heard.  Believe it or not, I'm 15."

"15!?"

"Yup!"  He says coolly, placing one hand to his hips.

Sonic eyes him completely.  He was about the same size as himself, with a broader, darker look.  His fur was now a little bit darker but not by much, and had lost the baby-like cuteness he used to have, like his round belly, and now had a well developed shape.  His bangs were longer and spikier, and it seemed as if he purposely colored them a darker brown.  And his shoes were no longer his red and white hytops as before; they were red and brown with a lot of golden detail, white padding, and a topaz-like jewel in both his left and right ankle. More noticeably, his tails were now more jagged and rougher.  Other than that, everything else seemed just the same.

"Ah, yes, I can see.  Telling from your appearance.  And speed as well.  You kicked major butt back there!"

Tails stopped smiling and looks down at the floor.

"In a good way!"  Sonic pats his back.  "No hard feelings.  Where'd you learn to fight like that?"  
He still looked at the floor, but then glanced up after a while.

"You will know, but not now…I'll get to that part later"

"Why not now?"

"Because you've yet to ask the important questions."  
"What, and that's not important?"

"Sonic, you're missing the point!  Well, for starters, I'm 15 right now.  So then how old are you?" He says while doing a hand gesture.

"Fift—no, wait… what!?  How old am I then anyways?"

"Well, technically, you're about 22 years old, because I was 8 when you went in that coma.  Do the math, it was seven years ago, so I added 7 to your age."

"I'm not that stupid, mind you…" he remarked coldly.

"Besides the point.  But because you've been preserved in there so well, your body did not age or decompose.  It seems it preserved your mind as well.  So you're still 15.  So technically I'm the same age you are, only because you've halted in existence.  Weird, huh?"

"Too weird for me.  That's…very freaky.  OK!  Next question." He said abruptly.

Tails looks at him, somewhat nervous yet anxious, and Sonic notices.

"Alright, I don't have to ask what I was in.  Apparently that thing kept me alive.  But what I don't understand is, why was I put there?"

"I was right.  You wouldn't know.  And you shouldn't.  But as a friend, I'll tell you."

"Hey, wait.  Before I need to get some popcorn, I have one, uh, one more question I really feel needs to be answered."

"Oh?  What?"  A worried look appeared in his eyes.

"Uhm, well—has the, no, I can't bring myself to ask."

"Why?  Don't hold back on me.  I will tell you all I know fully and completely, no matter how much it may hurt."

"Well, you'll think I'm crazy—"  
"—er" he muttered, although it was loud enough for Sonic to hear.

"Crazier?  Oh god, don't tell me I was a coward here too.  PLEASE don't tell me that!"  He puts his hand against his forehead.

"Too?  What's that suppose to mean?  You haven't been out of there for 7 years…is this the part where you sound crazy?"  
"Why does this feel like dejavu?"  He says with sarcasm.

"Alright, I could understand the 1st time, but at least right now you're kinda acting like yourself."

"I think I know what has happened already."

"Nooo, you don't know anything about—"  
"No no no, not on that, but, what had happened to the other Sonic when I came in."

"Other?  Came in?"

"I can ask right now.  Had the Sonic you knew seven years ago change?"

"What do you mean?"

"I can remember that long ago, you, Sally, Rotor and I snuck up on one of Eggman's bases to make a sneak attack.  The three of you went to your designated spots while I found a different entrance and faced Eggman himself.  That's…all I can really remember.  Can you fill in the rest of the story?"

"Never mind that for now.  Right now you have me concerned about your mentality."

"Oh ha ha."

"No, I'm serious.  Are you feeling alright?  Why are you referring to yourself as two hedgehogs?  You were the same hedgehog all the way through.  Although, you did get affected tremendously after you were hit with Eggman's Laser Beam.  Man that was the scariest night of my life.  Oh, wait, I'm the one asking all the questions, I'm so sorry—"  
"Go on.  Tell the story."

"You sure?  Well, alright.  But what I'm going to tell you might not be so pleasant.  I can stop whenever you want me to."

"Fine.  So what happened that night?"  Sonic laid back down on the white sheets and made himself comfortable, while Tails sat straight up.

"Okay," he takes a deep breath.  "Well, it began like this…"


	4. Mission: Failure Part 1

Chapter 3

Mission: Failure – Part 1

_________________________________________________________

"Okay.  All set.  Does everyone know their designated spots?"

Everyone nods.

"Let's juice and jam time!"

Sonic then speeds off into the dreary end of Eggman's hideaway, leaving a trail of dust behind him.  Tails and Rotor head off towards the South entrance of the hideout, while Sally stays behind.  She puts on a headset and opens up NICOLE.

"Nicole, can you give me a map and radar of Dr. Robotnik's lair?"

"Certainly, Ms. Sally."

A hologram projects out of NICOLE of the entire building, giving out a well-detailed image of the hallways and rooms.  There were 3 blue dots, two of them paired up moving slowly while the other was quickly zooming around the map.  There were also a handful of red dots as well.  She tapped on a button on NICOLE, and instantly the two grouped blue dots became a highlighted purple and started blinking.

"Tails, Rotor, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Aunt Sally.  We're in Hallway B facing north.  What do you detect?"

"There's a couple of SWAT bots behind the door left of you, but don't go in there.  Take a left at the next turn you see; go down a couple of steps until you see a vent up in the ceiling.  Climb up there and keep on following the tunnel.  It's the easiest way to make it inside the main system without setting an accidental alarm."

"Got it.  Oh, I'm so excited!"

"Uh…Sally, do you expect me to go up there as well?  Because uh…well, _you know_…" said Rotor with a sense of embarrassment.  She gives a soft giggle.

"No, Rotor, you're part of this mission for a reason.  What I need you to do is to disable the alarm system along the way so that way Tails can go up in the vent safely.  He's the only one that can go through because of his tiny size.  Can you do that for me?"

"Sure…why not?  Remind me why you're not doing this part again?"

"Rotor, you know that Bunnie, Antoine and the others are in another team to try and gather up more Freedom Fighters, and someone has to stay behind and give everyone directions and cautions or else this mission will fail.  Besides, you're a wizard when it comes to mechanisms and computers, you can do it!"  She gave a thumbs-up, although there was no one in particular she was actually pointing at since she was in hiding.

"Ok then.  Well, roger that Sally."  He said nervously.  "We're out."  A click goes off.

"Oh man," he turned to the cheerful little fox.  "Okay, big guy.  You ready?"

"Yes sir!"  he said with delight, giving a salute along with the biggest smile you've ever seen.

"Oh boy…alright.  Let's go!"  And they headed out, flying/running along the long hallway.

"Okay, two down, one to go."  She taps another button in NICOLE, and instantly, the blue dot that was frantically moving around the map was now highlighted and blinking.  But she notices that Sonic has passed his planned checkpoint and won't stop going further along the maze.  She flips to Sonic's headpiece, but is then raided with sounds of mayhem, like the recurring pattern of footsteps hitting hard metal, in her headpiece, and is even forced to turn down the volume.

"Sonic, what are you doing?!  You were suppose to have taken a right three hallways ago!  Hey, can you even hear me?"

"Not now Sally, there's a huge SWAT tank hot on my tail.  I have to divert it so that way I'll have room to fight it.  These hallways are too cramped.  Geez, being how fat Robuttnik is, he should've built them wider then they are, for—"

"Sonic!  Then try getting back to your sp—wait, why isn't NICOLE detecting this SWAT tank then?  You sure?"

"Now why would I be lying to you, Sal?" he said sarcastically, as a whooshing sound along with a crash and a boom goes off.

"Hmm, must be a prototype then.  He did that on purpose so that way we wouldn't be able to detect it on our memory bases, I bet.  Oh man, I hope Tails and Rotor are alright.  I don't want them to face that thing, by the sound of it.  Wait, no alarms have gone off yet…that must mean Rotor disabled them on time! Yes!"

"But wait, there's an open exit a little bit further.  It looks like it leads outside, so I'll fight it out there.  Meanwhile, make sure you're well hidden, Sal.  I don't want you to accidentally get caught up in this, kay?  Let Tails and Rotor know about the possibility of them facing more of these, alright?"

"Roger that.  Make SURE you make it back though; I don't want this mission to go haywire as much as it is now."

"Roger.  *click* "

"Who would've thought that'd be the last time we'd hear from you for a long time?"

"Actually, I think I remember all of that," said Sonic while rubbing his forehead with the fingers he was supporting himself on.

"Really?  Well, mind to share what happened?  Well, that's if, you remember completely to be able to explain it all.  No one really found out what had really happened to you after that."

"Uhm, okay.  Sorry if I can't fully explain myself."

"I don't mind."

 _________________________________________________________

A burst of light suddenly lit up as they both ran outside.

"Hey robot!  Bet'cha can't catch me!" he yelled while he made a burst of speed and left a trail behind him outside, creating clouds of sand as high as could be.  

The tank following him was a humongous trapezoid-like mech, with a machine gun attached in the top in which a SWAT bot controlled.  No matter how many rounds of ammo was shot at the blue hedgehog, he was too fast for them, and dodged each and every single bullet.  He then jumped into mid-air, curled up into a fast spinning ball and teared through the tank without a sweat.  Almost instantly the thing ignites into a vast explosion.  Pieces of metal flew all over the abandoned field.

"Score one Freedom Fighters, score none for Eggbutt," he exclaimed.  But something didn't feel right.  Something was…missing.  "Oh no…my headpiece!  Where is it?"

As he looked over his shoulder, he then realized that it was nearly impossible to find the tiny device, not with all of this scrap metal decorating the vast desert.  A sinking feeling overcame him.  But what was the use worrying about it?  No point spending precious minutes looking for some stupid thing he didn't need.  He can find that spot himself.  Yeah, why does he have to rely on THAT?  He then shrugs off the entire situation, nothing to worry about, and dashes back inside.  But only seconds after he did so, there was an echo of some sort of static in the far distance.

zzz….zzzzz…zzzzzzzzpfft—_Sonic…can you hear me?  I just heard an explosion, are you alright?  Sonic, stop joking around and answer me! Sonic?…SONIC!……oh no……_—zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzpfft…………

He zooms past the somewhat familiar hallways trying to recall where he was before he was seen and chased.

"It was here…no wait, uh…maybe over here…yeah it was!  Ok, well…maybe it wasn't that, dead end.  Alright, well this awfully looks familiar…Damn it why the hell did they all have to look the same?!"

As he takes a hallway down, he notices that there were three SWAT bots headed his way around the corner.  He then tries to find a hiding spot so that way he won't alert any more trouble.  But by doing so, he leans on a chute, which accidentally makes him fall over and sends him in a slide.  The slide must've lasted for about 8 seconds in pure darkness until he landed outside the entire lair by the walls.  

Completely blinded by sunlight, he struggled to balance himself, only noticing that he was also about 10 stories above ground.  He got instantly nervous, but then notices that if he could balance himself against the walls and the little leverage of trim, he could stealth-walk to the other side of the building.  So slowly (which he hated), he slid himself along the walls.  Making it successfully, he then notices that a little bit further, there was a large balcony along with what seemed like an opening.  The only way he would make it there without jumping or freefalling is if he span so quickly he would actually follow the curve of this balcony and make it up.  Anything was worth a shot.  
"Oh well.  Here goes nothing."

He kneels on the ground and starts spinning in place quicker and quicker, until finally, he releases himself and spins right along the curved balcony.  Success!  Going mid-air for only a split second and then lands a perfect Matrix-like pose inside the balcony, he regains his eyesight in where he was at.

"Weird.  I've never seen this part of his fortress before.  What's he up to this time?"

Looking to his right, he then notices a humongous entrance to who-knows-where a little further down.  As he gets up, he ponders quickly about whether or not he should risk the entire mission and go in.  Well for one thing, this was definitely not where he was suppose to go.  He was suppose to meet Tails off in the other end of the vent and take him down to the main control system, and while there attach a chip that would fry all of Eggman's database and security systems.  But then again, there's no way in hell he would be able to even find his spot without going INSIDE the lair, so what the hell?  Go in.  And he does…

"And then, all of a sudden, an entire army of SWAT bots surround me, and there, standing in front of me, is none other than Dr. Eggman!" he says while showing emphasis in hand gestures.

"Sonic, when the hell did you get so wrapped up in story telling?  You've never been THAT descriptive in anything!"  Tails points out with an observant face.

"What?  I 'come back to life' and you're objecting about how I tell my side of the story?  Why the hell did you ask me in the first place then, huh?"

"I WAS KIDDING!  It's just that it was usually Aunt Sally doing all of the story telling.  OOH!  Do the spooky witch voice!" he says while leaning on his chair and two tails wailing around.

"Ahe he he, no." Sonic says while crossing his arms.

"Really, I'm dead serious.  Do the spooky witch voice like Auntie Sally.   Or is it possible that you don't KNOW it, hmm?  If I could detect the fake Sally, I can surely detect the _fake_ Sonic, you FAKER!"  He says while pointing a finger at him.

"Hey, I'm not the faker, you are!" he says while pointing a finger at him.  Tails then looks at him with a skeptical look.

"Oh really?  Well the _REAL_ Sonic would know how Aunt Sally's witch voice was like, and what she said too!"  He looked at Sonic dead in the eye with a smirk in his face, waiting for a response.

"What the fu—Tails!  Quit acting like that!"

"I'm waiting."  He then crosses his arm and continues to stare at him.

He then glares at him with an I-hate-you look, but then positions himself in his bed with his fingertips touching his chest.  And with the scratchiest, most horrible voice you've ever heard come out from Sonic's mouth, he says with one eye closed "_That it issss, my prettyyyyy!  Yoooooou can't escape!_"

And almost in an instant Tails bursts out with laughter, almost pivoting himself off of his chair.  Sonic can't help but feel so embarrassed and blushes.  

"Did that come out from ME?" he asks himself with a sense of shock. 

But then it hit him.  Where was Sally anyway?  But it was a bit interesting (and entertaining) seeing this young fox dying of laughter, and in seconds, caught himself laughing at his own impression too.  And they both laughed for what seemed as countless minutes.


	5. Mission: Failure Part 2

Chapter 4

Mission: Failure – Part 2

As they calmed down from all of the laughter, forgetting instantly their peculiar moment, they settled back down and got comfortable in their seats.

"Next time I won't be that nice and do what you say, got it?" he said once the silence was recognized.

"I know I know.  I really was just joking; I didn't even think you'd remember that still.  But what I don't understand is why you always get so wrapped up in proving that you're not a 'faker', what with that incident with the black hedgehog.

"Shadow?  Yeah, no matter what he said, I'm not the faker!  He is!"

"Sure.  So…you want to tell me what happened after you walked inside?"

"Why do you want to know so badly?  Can't it wait?  I want to know what happened during my little knock-out incident," he said.

All Tails did was look at him, not an expression in his face.

"What?…"

"…"

"…why won't you tell me?"

"Well, uh…" he stopped.

"Uhm…you go first, then I'll go after you're done," the young fox said under a sigh.  "How's that?"

"Fine, I guess."  He closed his eyes and focused within the darkenss of his mind.  _(Geez, is it that bad?)_

Tails then switched the chair around so the back of the chair was against his chest and just stared at him.

_(Why is he looking at me like that?  Hmm, guess I'll know when I'm done with my side…)_

"Well, to put it in short, Eggman was there and I faced him hands on.  But he had this weird Dimensional Travel Beam or something, don't tell me to think of the correct name right now, and I was hit.  And…"

He stopped talking.  Something told him not to continue.  Not because he was eager to hear Tails' side of the picture afterwards, but also because telling his life as a rebel against the Dark Legion would definitely place him under the impression that he was either dreaming or delusional, just like over there.  At least here he was wanted…

"And…?"

"How should I know?" he said quickly in response.  "I was knocked cold.  Yeah! I was knocked out, and that's the last thing I remember…uh…yeah."   _(That's it, you go blue!  Now no one will ever question you!)_  Although he was proud of himself in his mind, he was able to display a grief-stricken face.  

"Ok.  Your turn." He said with a low tone, although he was just dying to know.  "What happened?"

"Well…" He crossed and rested his arms against the back of the chair and took a deep breath.  "Alright.  I'll just tell you as it is.  Actually, I was sorta unsure whether to tell you all of it or only the things you need to know.  But there's no way you can escape that, not once you leave this room."  He pointed at the door using his index finger.

"Really?  Well, what are you waiting for?"  _(But by the sounds of it, do I really WANT to know?  Oh well, no way I'm letting this slip off my back)_

"…"

As the vent swung open on the other side, a coughing soot-covered fox climbed out of the tunnel.  He then shook himself like a dog and completely shook off all of the rubbish.  "Yuck," he thought as he began to feverishly rub his right arm.  After that little predicament, he then looked around and studied the surroundings.  This room he was in was very dim, almost as if the only thing lighting up this area were computer monitors and flashing radars.  Why this room was unprotected he did not know, but far more important matters, where was Sonic?  Did he take care of the badniks already?  Probably so, but still, Aunt Sally told him to stay there until Sonic arrived, and that was what he was going to do.  But really, he wasn't just going to stand there in that spot all DAY…

He then just strolled along the gloomy room, glancing at each monitor but in reality was paying almost no attention to what really went on in the screen.  "Hmm…must be the Surveillance room," he said under his voice.  Then with no warning, the room all of a sudden got brighter, but it wasn't because the lights were turned on.  It was because of this one particular monitor, it turns out, and that instantly caught his attention.  "What's going on here?"  He walks over to the bright monitor and faces it, squinting his eyes and raising his hand over his forehead in order for him to try and make out whatever was causing it.  Then the glum black and white camera finally focuses correctly, everything was back to normal.  Everything was still once again, but something wasn't right.  He focuses on the still image carefully until he could make out what was really happening.  "Wait a minute…could it be…"

It was the one thing he'd hope he'd never see in his entire life…

There lied Sonic.  Motionless.

His whole heart sunk.  His body instantly gave out, his knees sank down to the floor.  Emotions and thoughts he never thought he had flared up and all rushed through his mind.

"…So…_Sonic_…_no…no, it can't be…_" he uttered under his breath.  

"NO!  This can't be real!  It just CAN'T!  I'M SEEING THINGS I'M SEEING THINGS I'M SEEING THINGS!!!!" the distraught child wails as he covers his head and ducks on the floor, closing his eyes so tightly as if to prevent them from being ripped out.  His tails twitched in every direction.  Hard sobbing breaks out of his crackling voice and then cries severely, choking for air.  And in doing so, his arms pressed against the tiny headpiece and a flick went off.

"Ta-Tails?  What's wrong?  What's the matter honey?"  Sally said in shock.  But that didn't rip Tails away from the motionless screen.

"I'M SEEING THINGS! I'M SEEING THINGS!" he keeps on repeating.

"What?  What do you see?  Tails! TAILS!  Take a deep breath and TELL ME!" she says, now more worried than ever.

Then all of a sudden he stopped, still chocking and gasping for air, tears pouring down his face.  He was too focused on the monitor—something was moving.  But it wasn't the corpse on the far left side of the monitor, but it was rather Dr. Eggman, walking towards it.

"NO! NO! GET AWAY FROM HIM! STAY AWAY!!!" he shrieks fiercely in both agony and anger.

"What the?  Tails, what are you talking about?  Speak to me, please!  What the heck's going on?!"

But as soon as she said that, the monitor displays Eggman violently kicking the hedgehog, sending it mid-air for only a millisecond, but enough to prove that it didn't move a single inch on its own.  

Sonic the Hedgehog…the legendary hero and role model of many…was dead.

"NOOO!**  SONIC!  ****SONIC!!!!"**

"Sonic?! What about Sonic?!  TELL ME DAMNIT!" she yells in his ear and even forced to lower the volume to its lowest level next to mute, but Tails was long gone.

"**I'M GONNA KILL HIM!  I'LL KILL HIM!  I'LL FUCKING KILL HIM!!!"  He stopped only to gasp, rage rapidly consuming him.  He breathed harder and harder.**

"WHAT?!?  Why are you going to kill Sonic?  I don't understan—"

"**HE'S GONNA PAY!  I'LL FUCKING KILL HIS ASS!  I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS EGGMAN!  I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR SONIC'S DEATH!!!"**

"**WHAT?!? YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!?!  SONIC'S DEAD?!?!…YOU'RE LYING! HE'S NOT DEAD!!!**…NO!…no…he's _not_ dead…he's not……_dead_…"  She dropped NICOLE without even noticing.  Her voice cracked, and she broke into tears and began weeping silently while Tails screamed furiously.  But she couldn't take it anymore…he began to get to her.

"Tails!  Please, stop it!  Calm down—"  
"**SONIC'S DEAD! SONIC'S DEAD! SONIC'S DEAD—"**

"Stop it, PLEASE!"

"**SONIC'S DEAD! SONIC'S DEAD! SONIC'S DEAD! SONIC'S—**"

**"STOP IT!!!"**

"………"

Her yelling let off her guard in suppressing her sadness.  She busted into tears and began to wail into the microphone, covering her hysterical face with her delicate hands.

"Sally?…Aunt Sally…please stop crying…please, stop it!  Stop it…" his voice cracked as well, and then could no longer speak.  Sadness consumed him as well.

And poor Rotor being out of place, coming back excitedly from where he once entered, had finally spotted Sally crying in the far ledge of the rocky region after minutes of trying to find her to let her know that he was okay.  Now he was just plainly left confused when he finally approached the mourning young princess, leaning on a rock covering her face, crying as if someone had just died…

"Princess Sal?  You okay?  What happened?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around her, trying to sooth her down.  In response, she flung herself around the walrus and began to cry even harder against his fur.  Her yelps due to gasping of air were silenced a bit.

"There, there.  It's alright, Princess, I'm alright!  You can quit worrying now, everything's going to be alright."

"Sonic…Sonic…" it seemed like she said while she pressed her entire face against him.

"Hey, where is Sonic anyways?"

She cried even louder than before, even though she was being covered with fur.

"STOP SAYING SONIC!!!" another voice said from what seemed as it came from inside of him.

"What the…Tails?"  He switched the knob on his headpiece until he heard steady breathing.  "Where are you little buddy?  Why is Sal crying?"

"Rotor, it's Sonic…he's…dead."

"Oh my god, are you serious?!" Rotor exclaimed.

"…_yes_…" he said in such a sad, higher-than-usual tone.

"No way, are you telling the truth?"

"…"

"Oh man.  That's just unbelievable.  What are we going to do?"  Silence was instantly broken after that remark.

"HOW CAN YOU JUST SAY THAT?!?  'WHAT ARE WE GOING TO FUCKING DO?'  CALL THE REST OF THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS AND SEND A FULL ATTACK, THAT'S WHAT WE'RE GONNA DO!!!"

"WHAT?!"

"JUST DO IT!" –shphmmmt–………

"Uhm, okay, if you say so.  C'mon Princess, let's get up.  Can you still walk?"

The weeping princess didn't say anything.

He picked up NICOLE and placed it in his belt pocket, hoisted her up in his arms and left.

Tails got up from his spot.  But he was no longer the soft, kind fox as before.  He now looked vicious and wild; his face was screaming revenge.

"I have an appointment with the doctor…" 

And with clenched fists, he ran towards the nearest door.


	6. Mission: Failure Final

I'M SO SORRY FOR THE LACK OF UPDATING!  My summer homework has really taken the best out of me, and so did my friendship problems, so I had to deal with that…but not getting out of topic, I'm finally given the chance to write my story even though I STILL have to tend to life, but I'll try my best to keep the flow moving.  With that said, I might have to do random updates from now on until everyone decides to let me use the computer more often. :/

Chapter 5

Mission: Failure  Part 3

-----

"Dang, were you really that messed up?"

"Well, the rest is pretty self-explanatory, and it's also something I like to keep quiet about, actually.  I don't want to be seen as the crybaby to everybody else, but heck, nobody laughed either at the matter, so I have no regrets."

"Oh...but yeah...soo...after that I was rescued and put in that capsule thingy, huh?"

Tails was going to give a reply, but then thought before he spoke and didn't.

"...yeah...you can say that."

"O…kay…"

"The thing was, you came recovered a week after that incident."

"What?  I don't remember that!  Are you sure?"

"Are YOU sure you didn't?"

He didn't respond back.

"Do you not remember anything after the blow to your head by the beam?"

"No...I don't...I honestly thought I've been kept in that capsule all this time...Gah!  I don't understand anything!  What the hell's going on?!?"

Tails sighed.  "Look, I made a promise that I would tell you everything, even if you don't want to hear it.  But I'm not even sure if it's the right thing to do or not.  Truth was..."

Sonic paid close attention after the pause.

"Truth was......about a year after having you awake...none of us was really sure we wanted you back."

Sonic didn't say anything.  Tails looked at him with difficulty of keeping a straight face. 

"You weren't Sonic anymore.  You were a serious nutcase--you didn't want to go on any missions, you got easily scared by Sally and the other Freedom Fighters, and even me, and persisted that we were people we weren't.  Hell when Knuckles came over to monitor you one time, you kept on running away from him claiming he was going to assassinate us and disappeared for about a week.  It was at that time apparently you came across Eggman, because he came alongside with you and invaded Knothole.  You led us to disaster.

"Did I really do all of that?  Oh man, I'm so sorry..."

"Sonic...I should be sorry...for telling you this...but..."

His eyes glittered in the light.

"Everyone had had it with you...you were no good for our missions and you even helped Eggman kill your own people...your friends...Only a handful of us actually survived the surprise attack; that included me, Amy, Bunnie, Rotor, Antoine and a couple of others.  Do you remember Rouge?  Well she helped us escape into a nearby cave Knuckles created because she joined the resistance after Bunnie and Antoine went on their search, and that was where we stayed for the meantime.  The source of the Power Ring was finally captured.  Everything was destroyed; there was absolutely no hope left..."

"Wait...oh no...Sally...what happened to Sally?!  TELL ME!"

"...he got her, thanks to you.  She was captured and was taken to the Roboticizor.  We couldn't get to her in time.  She was turned into a servant of Eggman, working alongside with him updating possible tactics for the invasion of Mobius.  Well, least that was what Hershey and Geoffrey told us, as they were the only ones that took the job to look for Sally and the others while we were recovering.  Everyone changed after that.  Well, you'll notice eventually.  I don't know any other person who would forgive you for what you have done after that other than me, Amy, Cream and Bunnie."

"Once the Acorn family heard word of Sally's disappearance, they were heartbroken, especially Prince Elias.  He actually attempted finding Sally himself and went after Eggman, even though his wife was about to give birth.  When he came back, however, he came back with a heavy burden.  Sally was nowhere to be found.  You were, however.  You didn't even recognize him, he said, but when he asked you if you knew where she was, you claimed that you were told to disembowel a similar robot for parts after it went under malfunction."

Sonic choked after that statement…HE…himself…took apart Sally as trash?!?  He helped killing the only person that kept him alive during all of that time?!?  Man…this was probably his punishment for loving Fiona…what a twist of fate…

"Sonic?"

"Go on." He said in a soft whisper looking down, as he didn't want Tails to see his reaction or hear his voice possibly cracking.

"Well, Prince Elias brought you back, but you were literally hanging by your last thread.  After that, we had the option to let you live, or, like the majority of the remaining Freedom Fighters wanted, let you die.  Amy, Cream and I begged and pleaded that you were innocent, but everybody else thought otherwise, even Bunnie.  I couldn't take it any longer.  I decided to run away, but I wouldn't go on my own.  That night, Amy, Cream, and I devised a plan to be able to sneak off, get a hold of you and head off to my old garage, which was abandoned because the railway system was disconnected from the Mystic Ruins a long time ago, and the only way to get there other than flying, which was clearly out of anyone's question because then we'd be detected by Eggman, was to take the Forbidden Trail, which was really dangerous yet risky.  No one would dare follow us along there anyway, especially if we're just taking you along.  Everyone treated us like useless children anyways, we were sick of it.  Just little 'kids' getting in their way.  And so, we did as they pleased; we got out of their way."

"After countless nights of planning, the three of us ran away successfully carrying you, as we couldn't take it anymore.  I stole all of Rotor's blueprints and anything else we could carry as well, as I worried that they would use them against you if they had the chance.  We feared the adults because they wanted to kill you, everyone just wanted revenge, and that's not how the Freedom Fighters were suppose to be like.  We were established because we wanted to stop Mobius from transforming into Robotropolis and for everyone to live peacefully, not just to kill one person and assume that it would solve everything.  To us, you were the greatest thing alive, and we just wanted to help you get back to normal, like how you were like in the past, even though you proved of a nussance to everybody.  We knew you wouldn't be like this for long, and well, you're talking to me like before.  We proved everybody wrong.  I'd like you to show them a piece of your mind about all of this, but they'd probably stone you before you even speak..."

Sonic just sat there motionless with a sad frown etched on his face and his mouth wide open.  This was worse than he was expecting. 

"I…I never meant to hurt anybody...not you, Sally, or the Freedom Fighters...that wasn't me, I swear it wasn't!" he shrieked almost jumping off of his bed.  Tails could only sit there and deal with Sonic's frustration, but he understood and said nothing.

At that instant they heard whimpering behind the closed door.  They both stared at the door, wondering what was going on.  Then the doorknob squeaked and the door opened.  A young pre-teen rabbit had walked inside wiping her tears with her hand and just stared at Sonic.

She was apparently wearing a hand-me-down dress that belonged to Amy but was tastefully decorated with sewn patterns of yellow and orange flowers along the trim of the dress, and right along her feet was an infant Chao that clung on to her left leg.

Cream gave a faint smile.

"You helped me along the way to find my mother.  I owed you a favor, and if I didn't do anything I wouldn't have been able to live with myself.  Tails was right; you were just under mental trauma, that's all.  I'm so glad you're back!" she said while walking towards him and finally hugging him.

"Thanks Cream.  That's very nice of you, I appreciate that you care," he said as he hugged her back

She instantly let go and bowed down to him.  The baby chao let go of her ankle and did the same.

"Oh?  Who's this little fella?  This can't be Cheese, can it?"

"No, it's not Cheese, sadly.  Cheese went to a far away land to journey off on his own, as I feared for the worst that he would get caught up during the entire mess, so I let him go.  But Cake here is his child, and my best friend!" she cooed to the tiny chao.

"Chao chao!"  Cake exclaimed with a little heart hovering slightly above his head, and then bobbed and danced in place.

Sonic snickered.  "Cream, you really know how to train your chao, they're so well mannered.  But this one is way smaller and darker than Cheese, so I should've known."

"Yeah, Cake likes to hang around with Amy when I'm not around, but every time she pets him, he gets darker.  I don't know why, it's not like her hands are dirty every time, but...."

"I _constantly_ tell Cream," Tails emphasized looking at Cream, "that when certain people raise chaos, they turn darker and evolve into a Dark chao, but it's kinda hard to prove because nobody around here owns a Dark chao other than Amy, but it's a natural red chao, so it doesn't change colors."  Tails said abruptly, and she in return stuck out her tongue teasingly.   

"It's strange, actually, Amy raising dark chaos, but Ruby looks rather cool if you ask me."

"Ruby?"

"Oh, that's her Chao's name.  We found a red chao egg along our way through the trail, and Amy raised it.  But when Ruby evolved, strangely, what should've been a halo was instead a spike ball.  Amy loved it--"

"It freaked me out!"

"We know, you thought it was possessed!  That _was_ hilarious though."

"It wasn't funny!  But Cheese was real good friends with Ruby, so I knew she was still a good chao even though that spike ball flung around...and then she would chase me...and pull my tail...man, that thing looks like it's painful if you touch it..."  she instantly caught what she was saying, sweat dropped and placed a hand behind her head and laughed heartedly.  

"Well who am I to speak about Cake's mother, huh?  I'm so sorry Cake, don't hate me, I didn't mean it!" she said and began to rub his chin.

"Chao!"  It said and instantly began dancing and spinning.

"Is Amy still around?"

"Yeah she is, probably out in the Chao garden though.  Remember the one that you get though by riding the mine train?  That's her favorite spot to go now, you should talk to her there.  Yeah!  And you KNOW that'll cheer her up a lot!" Tails said while hitting his fist against his palm.

"Hey yeah!  She won't be so depressed anymore!  Oh, this is so cool!  Everyone can be happy once again!  Oh I can't wait to see her face when she sees you!  I just can't!  C'mon, let's go!"

She then raced out of the room with Cake following her, stumbling once then getting back up to catch up.

"Wow, she's very energetic.  Kinda reminds me of Amy actually."

"Trust me Sonic.  If anyone took an emotional blow these past 7 years the hardest, it has got to be Amy.  She went under serious depression after you changed, especially when everyone hated you.  Heck, she was a total wreck, even worse than me.  But yeah, she was affected dramatically, so don't offend her or make her feel uncomfortable or anything, alright?  She's...well...CHANGED..." he emphasized strongly as he got up from his chair.

"Sure thing.  I'm kinda in the mood to talk to her right now, so why not?  Let's go!"

Sonic jumped out of his bed as if it was nothing and went ahead through the door before Tails turned the lights out.

------

LOL, yes I know I didn't go on with what happened in detail about what would happen after Tails' fury, but I felt that I was getting a little off-track…that's why I'm saving that for another fan-fic I'll pick up on later, until this one is completed.  I'll write in detail about that time during the time Sonic was a nussance and caused havoc and the runaway.  So, we'll all just have to wait a little, huh?  Heh, I'm evil…


	7. Fireflies

Chapter 6

Fireflies

---------

Mystic Ruins...literally looked ruined.  It was a bare wasteland, filled with nothing but dead grass, wilted trees and sand patches.  Magnificent waterfalls and rivers where water used to flourish calmly were now abandoned craters, providing no purpose to the earth but to collect dirt.  The night sky, however, glittered its stars across the forsaken scene as if trying to revive it by its magical presence.  The full moon was as bright as can be, softly caressed by the seawater's reflection by gratitude of arrival and was carried along the ripples of the sea.

Yet Cream and Tails were not in the least appalled by the horrific view, and that was somewhat hard for Sonic to understand.  Instead, they were flying - racing each other to the mine train next to the hill where Tail's garage nested, which ironically looked abandoned as well.  But he let his thoughts behind him as he quickly zoomed towards the cart and had beaten them both before they had realized that he had joined the race in the first place.

The ride to the Chao Garden was actually nicer than the previous sight, as fireflies dazzled across the mossy rocks that formed across the track, entertaining the mine riders as they proudly showed off which of the bunch could light up the brightest.  Cream reached out of the cart constantly trying to catch a firefly, and whenever she succeeded she showed them to Cake, who was enjoying the trip a lot.  Sometimes Cake would accidentally squish a firefly by trying to grab it itself and began to cry, so Cream would just rub the dead firefly's belly on her dress and on her nose so that it glowed too, which sent Cake into laughter.  Cream stopped catching them after Cake began to deliberately kill fireflies so that way she would decorate on herself some more.  

"No, Cake!  Stop killing them!  That's not very nice OR polite of you, you know!" she squealed once she realized that Cake wasn't just bad at grabbing the precious bugs.  But Cake just rubbed his face on her stained dress and then sent Cream into giggles after seeing his round face almost as bright as the morning sun. 

Tails seemed to have never noticed the two playing, probably because either the two playing wasn't new to him or he had his mind set on other things.  He just continued to blankly look ahead of the trail, sitting as still as a statue attached to the metal cart.  Sonic knew not to interrupt him, whatever was going on through his mind.  Just then, he felt something wet rubbing against his left leg.  

Sure enough, Cake had just rubbed his face along his leg, which now looked like golden blood that had seeped in his fur.  Cream gasped and covered her mouth, but it was quite apparent that she was hiding a large smile away from him.

"Oh, so you want to get me dirty too, is that it?"  he said with an annoyed tone toward Cake, which sent the little chao to a worry.  Cream just looked at Sonic, and he looked back.  Then, he rubbed his gloved finger against a stained part of her dress and looked at Cake again.  Cake sweatdropped, not knowing whether to think of this as a punishment or not and stopped smiling.  Cream got nervous about what Sonic might do next...  

After a few silent seconds however, Sonic then quickly drew a dorky upside-down smiley face on his belly with his finger, sending the three tearing with laughter.  After Sonic stopped laughing for feeling really stupid, he noticed that Tails had broken off from whatever he was thinking about and apparently saw the entire thing, as he just shook his head with a smirk on his face.  Sonic grinned back, shrugging his shoulders and raising his hands up in an "I-don't-know-don't-ask" kind of gesture.  It was at that moment, however, that they had reached the end to their destination as the train halted right in front of a ledge.  They were in the Mystic Ruins Chao Garden.

This was probably the only zone that, if anything, was actually inviting.

The pillars still towered like before, and the pool was still the purest shade of blue possible even though it was night.  The grass was just begging for somebody to stroll across it barefooted as it swayed across the wind gracefully.  The stars and full moon looked more beautiful than ever before here rather than out in front of the garage.  He then understood why Amy went here often.  

But the only new addition to the garden was a tiny sanctuary that greatly mimiced the Master Emerald's shrine but without any threatening precious emeralds.  It was there where a girl sat in the shadows, gently petting something tinier with what looked like quills in a recurring pattern.

Cream instantly leaped out of the cart, while Sonic followed suit slowly.  He was unsure about how he was going to start, how to handle that the one person next to Sally that he knows had a crush on him would react to what was almost certain the death of a loved one has been brought back to life.  

(_Would she be able to accept my revival, that I was once dead and now alive? Am I even welcomed anymore?_)  

This worried him to no end, but was determined to face the music and accept whatever fate has prepared for him.  Besides, he's been through worse, as this isn't exactly the end of the world...is it?

Just then, Tails reached out of the cart and grabbed Cream's arm, which sent her to a shock, and led Sonic to look back.

"I'll wait with Cream on the mine train," he whispered. "You two need to talk without us interrupting or bugging you."  

And with that, Cream pouted silently with disappointment, and got back in the cart with Cake, who was already clinging to Sonic's stained leg.  Sonic then had the courage to jump off the ledge and quietly walked towards Amy, slowly being consumed along the shadows as well.

-------------

He made one step up towards the mini-flight of stairs leading to the center of the shrine, able to make out the tiny portion of Amy's head, which looked a very pale pink under the shade.  As he walked closer, he already saw some changes on her.  Apparently, she hasn't trimmed her hair-like quills, which somewhat made her look like an echidna, and her center quill had a weird design on it.  He made it to the last step and  couldn't stop staring at her...

There she was, her back pointed towards Sonic, petting her little chao gently by her side while her mind was off drifting elsewhere staring at the full moon.  He couldn't believe his eyes.  She looked like a completely different person.  

And yet...he's seen her already...

She strongly resembled the other Amy from the other world but with distinguishable differences.

She wore a prototype black jumpsuit in which the sleeves were ripped off from her elbows and knees down, and instead of the golden cuffs she wore way back when, they were covered with metal spiked cuffs.  And, sadly yes, she also had a metal plate bolted on the top of her head as well.  Her quill now made out a somewhat purple hieroglyphic symbol of a perfect circle, in which the left side was astrological sun while the right was a crescent moon with a star etched in between the two main stars. The image was tilted at around a 45 degree angle, but still distinguishable enough.

And, true to Cream's word, her little chao Ruby had a blue spike ball floating above her head and also had quills that strikingly looked like Sonic's own, but it showed no presence of abuse as she held on to her leg with eyes filled with joy and comfort.  But this chao sensed that something seemed a bit unusual as a question mark suddenly appeared over her head, and then mistakenly looked dead at Sonic in the eye.  Ruby didn't know how to take that there was a stranger right behind their backs, not to mention that this creature's belly and leg was reflecting a mysterious light, which could only mean danger... Sonic slowly put a finger against his lips and made a 'shhh' sound, but that wasn't enough to not make the chao quit worrying.

ENGYAA!! ENGYAAA!!! 

Amy then ceased drifting off instantly and looked over to the frantic Ruby.

"Hmm?  What's wrong, baby girl?  Something the matter?"

It felt like forever since he's heard her speak.  The feeling of finally being able to see and hear Amy, even though all those years she's been even a pest, she was one of the few who would always stay true and by his side.  And never in his life would he ever feel so relieved to know that she would still be willing to risk everything for him, or else she wouldn't of have ran away and journied with Tails and Cream.

Ruby kept on hopping up and down pointing straight at Sonic's reflecting stomach.  ENGYAA!  

Then, she realized that in the corner of her eye that there indeed was a faint light.  She then looked slowly towards her sight, not exactly sure of what exactly was going on...then all of time seemed to have stopped.

Her eyes widened, her pupils dilated in a flash.  She froze in place and felt her stomach drop...

Sonic just stood there, with his eyes wide open as well, as a chill went down his spine.  He had no idea whether to make a move or what...

Millions of thoughts soared through the young girl's mind, not knowing whether or not she was fantacising too far beyond belief...was this for real?  Is she seeing things?...

Sonic slowly opened his mouth as if he was about to speak, but could only breath slowly as words didn't come out, but then had the courage to speak.

"...Amy?"

Panic ran through the young hedgehog, sending her to leap in the air and completely stood up on her guard, but never letting him out of her sight.  Poor Ruby had no clue in how to take this sudden situation and could only look back and forth at Amy and the stranger, only to have a question mark appear over her head once again and then decided to run and hold on to her owner's leg.  Then Amy extended her arm more and more towards the nearest pillar.  Sonic tried to advance towards her by taking a step but was instantly halted as she grabbed her spear and quickly pointed it at his heart.

"Stay back!  I'm warning you!  You get away from me, you hear?!"  She said shakily with a faint yet strong tone.

But Sonic only reached towards the tastefully-decorated spear and gently pushed it aside from him to point off away from him, and began to walk closer to her.  She gasped heavily and took a step back, almost tripping backwards as she stepped at the edge of the stairs but kept her balance.  He then was close enough to reach out to her and caress her cheek with his hand, looking deeply into her worried eyes.

"Amy..." he smiled and releasing a small and faint chuckle, "...I'm...finally back home."

Her spear clanked on the floor, sending Ruby into a shock.  Amy began tearing with disbelief, but then reached her hand out to caress Sonic's cheek and smiled for what seemed as she had finally remembered how to smile for the longest time, and hugged him almost instantly and sobbed, pillowing her head against his chest.

Sonic wrapped his arms around her, finally hearing her voice for what seemed like an eternity, even though it was from crying, but it didn't matter.  Her soft, familiar tone seemed as medicine to hide away any shame that hung over his head from what has happened during those hard years.  There were no need for words for the moment, as the two who seemed inseperable finally proved to live out their title, and finally reunite once and for all.  The stars and moon did shine their brightest for a reason, afterall...

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Am I taking the reunion a bit too far at that last portion?  Well…you decide. ;-)  Next chapter I'll finish sometime this week.  This time, I am asking for reviews, not just for inspiration but also for critiques—I'm curious about how I'm doing, and I don't mind flames either, just not pointless ones that I cannot learn from.  Thanks!  ^_^


	8. Intruding

Wow.  Still occupied with my summer homework, so sorry.  But I did manage to write a chapter, oh joy-friggin-rapture!! ^^  Sorry if it's a bit longer than usual but I had to make sure that their dialogue came out just the way I wanted it.  

With that said, now off with you!  :P

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Chapter 7

Intruding

"This is no fair OR fun!" Cream pouts loudly with her arms crossed while Cake imitated her.  "I wanted to see Amy's face after she saw Sonic!  Why can't we go now?  You made me miss the good part anyways!"

Both Cream and Tails sat inside the mine cart, awaiting for Sonic and Amy to come back after their little get-together, since Tails thought it was a bad idea to just 'barge in at the moment'.  About a half an hour passed since Sonic had left the cart, and the moon was pretty close to being masked by the rocky boundaries of the Chao Garden.

"Hey!  They need their time alone, but you'll be able to see them once they come back.  Give it 10 more minutes, alright?" he said really ticked off.

"This is boring.  I'm not going to just sit here and do nothing!  What's the fun of being a teenager anyways if you're always cooked up inside?  I'm going!"

Cream then jumped out of the cart past Tail's reach, and along mid air she began to fly towards the sanctuary, carrying Cake along in her arms.

"Cream!  Come back here!  Don't make me follow you!  CREAM!  Gah...teenagers, I swear." The annoyed Tails then followed suit and chased her.

Cream slowly landed on the very side of the sanctuary, making sure her landing made no sound whatsoever.  She then squats down to Cake's level.

"Ok, you know what to do, right?" she whispers softly.

Cake nods and moves his hand across his mouth as if he was zippering it up.  Cream then pretends to grab his side of his mouth.

"Now you can't say anything until I give you back the key to open your mouth again, got it?"

Cake winks and then sat patiently next to her foot.  She was pretty close to them too, able to hear their conversation with no problem, but couldn't resist peeping up to be able to see them.  Frequently, she would lower her hand towards Cake and scratch his head but would still focus on Sonic and Amy, then retract it back to the ledge out of habit.  Other than that, she stayed perfectly still.

"What's that on your...?"  Amy asked pointing at Sonic.  They were both sitting on the ledge of the little sanctuary facing the flourescent sea.

"Oh that?  I was joking around with Cream and Cake, and that little mess there happened."

"Oh..." She quietly said as she stared back at the sky blankly yet with a smile.

Ruby, who was in-between the two, tilted her head so she could see Sonic's stomach upside down, which resulted her to being spooked and sticking her tongue out at the smeared smiley menacingly!

"Cream is like a sister to me."  Amy just said while still staring at the remainder of the moon and patting Ruby's head (who then fell into a trance).  "We do everything together while Tails is away repairing the garage or something.  We talk and play and kid around, and I could be the pre-teen I used to be once more.  I'm also grateful for that."

"Well that's nice to hear."

"Yeah..."

Cream just had the proudest smile in her entire life, and she continued to snoop just for that.  Tails had successfully made it about 3 feet away from Cream and kept on gesturing her to come back, but she only looked back at him angrily and shooed him off with her hand and continued to spy.  He mumbled to himself and leaned against the wall and sat there, not too distant from her but enough to not be able to reach towards her.

"But I feel really bad for Tails though..."

At that instant, Tails' ears perked up and instinctively began to listen to the conversation as well.  Cream looked back at him and smiled while pointing towards their direction.  'Geez, well isn't that just my perfect timing...' he thought to himself sarcastically.  

"He really doesn't have anybody to fall back on, like Cream and I have been able to since our runaway.  Makes me wonder how he can actually live with the silence and not collapse completely.  He has before, but I don't blame him.  I mean, he's 2nd youngest of the bunch and yet our leader to our survival.  I feel terrible that even though Cream and I do our best to be independent and help along, we just seem to add more stress on him.  Poor guy, he's matured much more though, but at the hefty cost of his childhood.  He was made an adult without choice, and without a good influence to fall back on either."

Tails felt an overwhelming feeling in his chest.  The reminder of his harsh path always got to him, because he did want to make his own decisions, but never like that.  It was fine when he found his style with technology to help rid of Eggman, but at least he was still helping Sonic.  He never meant wanting Sonic's responsibility of critical decisions between life and death to himself or others he truly cared for.  Was that the reason why he can't seem to get along with others anymore?  Has he really changed that much?  And for that, he retracted himself into thought again, completely oblivious to any more of their discussion.

"Amy?"

"Yes?"

"Well, I've been meaning to ask this, but I didn't want to upset you or anything.  Why do you have that thing stamped in your quill?"

"Thing?  Oh you mean this?"  She rubbed her hand against her quill.  "That's an easy one!"  She quickly looks at Sonic joyfully.  "It's a tattoo, actually.  I got it done in one of the villages not too far away from here.  I did it because it symbolizes Trinity.  The sun, moon, and stars coincide with our earth, and they all work as one.  Tails, Cream, and I all worked as one to come this far as well, so I had it tattooed on me to show respect for the universe as well as for our encouragement to continue to strive."

"Well, it really fits you.  I like it."

"Thanks.  Glad you do."  She said with a giggle.

"Did you ever expect me to wake up?"

She stayed silent.

"Wow, that's a big change of subject……honestly......I thought you weren't.  I was prepared for the worst, even though I had the biggest crush on you—"

"I knew that..." Sonic muttered as he rolled his eyes.

"Hey!  I have the right to have crushes with whoever whenever, and you do too!"

"I know, I know, but I had you and Sally and Mina all following my tracks, kinda got a bit tedious, you know?"

"Sonic, you're an idiot."  She said jokingly, softly punching him in the shoulder.

"What?  How does that make me an idiot?"

"Actually...take that back.  I was the idiot.  What made me think that I could actually spend some time with you when you were living your own life and tending to other's safety?"

"Well, everyone now hates my guts and think that I'm dead, soo...Hey, uh...well, this is kinda funny to ask right now, but...do you still...you know?  Well, let me put it this way.  Are you at least happy that I'm finally back home?"

"I'm actually mixed about all of this..."

"Oh?  And how so?"

"Let me put it this way, at least.  I'm glad you're back to normal, and not your crazy self like after you came back from that coma.  But during that time...I felt really bad that you were not yourself anymore, and it wasn't just because I missed you.  I remember those nights, when I would see Sally try to cover up her tears after she would read Tails a bedtime story.  I would watch Mina too, across my window, and she would just rest against a tree and sob.  It was there really that I stopped paying attention to what I was missing, but to the fact that others were left alone in the dark too because of love."

"Well now from what I hear from Tails, they're better off without—"

"Love is disgusting," she continued.  Her mind was already set in that topic.  "It can bring even the wisest of men down to shame.  Besides, crushes are called crushes for a reason; they're meant to be crushed.  I should've known that, but I didn't.  I was blinded by foolishness and 'hope'—that's the one killer, 'hope'.  When I realized that hope was the reason why we were all doomed was when I accepted that you weren't coming back.  Watching the others crumble under the pressure and loneliness due to 'hope' helped me realize that.  This was like our punishment by some mean.  Not only of us only relying on you to take care of everything, but also kinda like if neither Sally or Mina, heck or even me, could be with you, then none of us could.  But now that you're here sitting right next to me, I feel bad that I passed this cruel test.  It hurts just knowing that none of the other girls could live to see the day that you would finally return.  But nonetheless, I'm glad it's me who could finally see you again."

Sonic just stared at Amy with a blank face and then smiled.  "That's a good one.  Your crushes quote, I like that."

"Well, it IS the truth!" she said abruptly.

"I'm not contradicting what you said or anything, I know from first hand that it is the truth."

"Oh REALLY?" she said with a hand to her hip.  "I wouldn't mind hearing your version of how you just so happen to know that!"

"Oh boy..." He rested his hand upon his forehead.  "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes, I DO want to know, tell me now, Sonic the Hedgehog!"  Amy then pointed a finger at him only a few millimeters away from his nose, which actually sent Sonic to a sweatdrop.

"Well, I guess you can say that it was a dream, but I refuse to believe that—it was so real...you probably wouldn't understand—"

"Try me."

He looked at her, but was completely unsure as to how she was actually going to take it.  But hell, it was worth a try.  With a heavy sigh, Sonic finally opened his mouth slightly.

WAUGHH!!

"What the heck?" They both said simultaneously and finally stood up.

Ruby fell backwards in shock and fell dizzy as she thought that the smiley just screamed at her.  But as the two hedgehogs ran towards the noise, they soon found out that it was actually Cake, wailing at the top of his little lungs. 

"Cake, come back here!  You're gonna ruin our cover, what's wrong?"  Cream said in a loud whisper, trying to stay in her spot but was reaching out towards Cake.

GYAAAAAH!  The frantic chao screamed as he ran around waving his arms.  Then the little spider got a hold of Cake's arm and started crawling there.  He tried to brush off the harmless spider off by running into a tree.

"Cake, come over here let me…help...you.......uh oh..." she said to a stagger as she began to see two shadows covering the only light she had.  Cream then slowly turned around and faced a confused Sonic and a ticked-off Amy, resulting her to have a drop in her stomach.  Tails then flew into sight and grabbed Cake in midair and brushed off the little spider, sending Cake into an instant dance in Tails' arms.

"Uhh...I can explain everything, I swear!" she said nervously.

"Cream the Rabbit.  Were you just listening over our conversation and spying on us?"

"But, but..." she staggered as she also pointed to Tails, who had landed on the ground releasing Cake and stared back at the three.  She then gave up and lowered her head and faced the ground.  "Yes..."

Amy then jumped off the ledge landing right next to Cream.  She still looked at the clean-cut grass nuzzling right against her tennis shoes, focusing on the shoe's detail rather than at Amy.  Then Amy patted her in the shoulder.

"It's alright, there was nothing really secret to hide, but don't do it again, you hear?"

She then sprung back to her happy self.  "Okay!  I won't do it ever ever ever ever ever ever ever eve—"

"Please stop that."

"Ever, ever again!" she ended with a grin.  "Girl, you're crazy,"  Amy said while giggling.  "I know, isn't it lovely?"  Cream said in a corny British accent.  Amy rolled her eyes.

"Hey, did you two meet already?"  She asked pointing at both of them.

"Who, me and Cream?"  Sonic asked.

"Yeah, we already did, it's nice to see you again!" she said while waving at him from up above, and he waved back.  Amy also looked at him with a smile.

At that moment, Sonic then turned around and began to head straight towards Tails.  Once he met up with him, they both looked at the faint spider struggling to find a big enough hole in the rocky wall, even though the moon was about to rest once again deep below the sea.

"Why aren't we killing it?"  Tails said while still staring at it.

"I dunno.  I'm not killing it, there's no point.  Well, we could, but what are we accomplishing?  Besides, I think I'm done having to deal with death for now, and I don't want a reminder that I killed something under my shoe deliberately."

"Hmm, guess you're right."

Then almost instantly the spider found a big enough hole, and with no hesitation quickly scrambled inside, hoping to never to be seen again.

"You know, I'm curious.  What the hell did you talk about that took so damn long anyways?"

"You know, I'm curious too.  When the hell did you begin to curse so damn much anyways?"

"Shut up."  Tails glared at him but with a friendly smirk.  "But can you answer my question?"

"Nothing you don't know about.  After we calmed down from all of the 'drama', I mostly heard about your journey to make it all the way over here.  Man, you three really did suffer out there, didn't ya?  Bet lasting 3 days eating nothing but earthworms wasn't a very delightful thing, was it?"

"Ugh, don't remind me!"  Tails exclaimed putting his hand over his mouth.  "Amy kept on vomiting and Cream didn't eat at all.  She fell extremely weak afterwards because of lack of nutrients too, but there was nothing we could do as we were completely out of food and she just wouldn't dare touch them, let alone put them in her mouth!"  

"She told me about that too.  Least all of you made it through."

"Yup, gotta be thankful for that."

"Now I see what Amy meant."

"What?  What do you mean?"  Tails asked although he had heard quite well about what he was talking about.

"She also mentioned that ever since you left Knothole, you've been only paying attention to others and your work and never to yourself."

"Hey, you guys?  It's getting kinda late, so we're gonna head back to the garage.  You coming?"  Amy said when she finally approached the two.

"Yeah, we'll be in the cart in a sec."  Tails turned around to say.  Amy winked at the two and headed towards the mine cart.  Cream and Cake soon followed suit after Cake decided to keep a close eye for any more spiders that could possibly land on him again while walking.  Tails just continued to just stand there.  Sonic then gave a soft punch to Tails' shoulder.  

"Don't worry about anything now alright?  I'll help you from now on.  You definitely need a good break from what I've heard so far."  

Tails let out a short giggle.  "Thanks for the offer, but I'm not cutting back on any repairs or anything like that if that's what you mean."

"If fixing or making things make you happy, then it's fine with me. Just as long as you're able to relax for once."

"You should already know my answer to that last statement, so don't worry if I'm in the garage by next morning."  Then they both began to head out to the mine cart.

"BUT!  Then again, you're the one who made a mess out of my garage in the first place with you breaking out of your life-support capsule and everything, so YOU have to clean it up!"

"WHAT?!?"

"You don't want me stressed out anymore, do ya?  Well, sweeping and mopping doesn't help relieve anxiety you know..."

Sonic then glared at him and mumbled to himself.

"HAHA!  Another score for me!"  Tails exclaimed while jerking his arm as if he was blowing the whistle of a train.

"Hey, that's an exception, but I'm not cleaning up for any messes that you make, agreed?"  Sonic said while pointing his index finger at him.

"Agreed."

"Tails?  Why does it always seem as if you like to get the upper hand out of me?"  He stated sounding tentatively.

"Because it's nice to finally poke fun at other people without them getting too offended.  NAH!  I'm just playing.  I dunno, I never really looked at it that way.  I hope I'm not getting you ticked off for that too, am I?"

"No you're not....least, not REALLY..."

"Well, I'll stop it then.  Never meant it that way, so sorry 'bout that."

"Apology accepted, and I'll be cleaning up the mess tomorrow when I get the chance."

They both then forced themselves inside the cart with all of them literally huddled and cramped up right against each other due to the fact that the cart wasn't meant to carry 5 people (that's including the chaos).  And with a tug and a pull, the continuous whining ceased and the cart finally was able to budge from its spot, and slowly creep its way back through the cave it once came from.

Whew.  Sadly, the next chapter might take a while, because now I have to actually write an 800+ word essay about comparing a book to the world today…grrrr…oh well.  If you like or appreciate my story so far, R&R!  Heehee, the joy of persisting people; no wonder why so many do it.  :P  Oh yeah, my next chapter will introduce….wait for it….Rouge!  Yes, a plotline will be developing, so don't give up all of your hopes yet!  J 


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